


Hero

by Lord_KH



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Best Friends, Cloti - Freeform, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Spoilers, F/M, Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoilers, Friendship/Love, Post-Final Fantasy VII Remake, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29024103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_KH/pseuds/Lord_KH
Summary: The journey to stop Sephiroth has begun, but unbeknownst to the gang, Cloud harbors some reservations. Is Sephiroth unbeatable? Can he continue to live up to his reputation as a SOLDIER? In pursuit of a Kalm Fang in the wastelands outside Midgar, Cloud sees his chance to prove that he's up to the task. But it may prove to be his undoing. Cloti-friendly!
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	Hero

_ I’m with SOLDIER, so… _

The wind was as arid as the wastelands around it, forcing Cloud Strife’s sickly green irises to narrow while hardened pupils maintained a laser focus on his target. He had been in his half-crouched position so long that any normal man would have strained their legs to the point of collapse.

_...fighting’s all I do. _

Cloud had been on the trail of The Kalm Fang in front of him for some time. Him and his party had been ambushed by a pride of Fangs, but quickly sent them scattering with their combined strength. Still, Cloud knew that these tenacious, feral creatures would return were they not properly dealt with. The desert wastelands outside the enormous city of Midgar offered relatively few hiding spaces, so he led the party on, pursuing one of the beasts as it whizzed around in an aimless panic toward a small plateau that had formed in the desert like a speed bump.

The Fang finally lowered its head, taking a moment to lick at the dirt coating its filthy paws. For a moment, Cloud wondered if the poor creature could possibly conceive in its pea-size brain that might be the last act of its life.

The gargantuan Buster Sword on his back may as well have been paper as it was wrested from its magnetic restraint and lifted high above Cloud’s head, creating an ominous shadow across the rocks he was hidden in. Within another instant he was in the air, his lithe body effortlessly soaring as high as anything with wings could, blotting out the still-rising sun. The feral cat would look up, see its Destroyer and tremble, for there was nothing it could do -- not even yowl in impotent rage! -- before its head was another desert artifact, his sinewy body returning to the Lifestream and the planet.

That  _ was _ the plan anyways.

Already mid-air and unable to shift his position thanks to his arms being locked above his head, Cloud clenched his teeth as he realized he had misjudged the Fant’s position. The purplish hue of its fur had camouflaged it partially within the rocky plateau and the early morning sun cast such a long shadow as to make the cat indistinguishable from some of the larger boulders. Cloud had indeed overshot, landing harmlessly on a rock just in front of the monster.

Still, his reflexes were more of a beast than a man; surely he could land and swing in time to kill the thing. He had to! He was a SOLDIER -- ex-SOLDIER anyways -- and he was the best in the world at what he did. Keeping his muscles tight and capitalizing on the adrenaline coursing through him, Cloud looked over his shoulder to place his target and swung as if he was trying to slice through dimensional space. The air remained in one piece as the Buster Sword passed harmlessly through it.

The Fang had been caught off-guard for only a moment before its fight-or-flight activated, honed from years of harsh living in the wilds outside Midgar. Having dodged Cloud’s strike, it went in for a counterattack before the sight of a huge man clambering up the small hill to its right stayed its offense. Outnumbered, it instead rushed for safety and leapt off the plateau, ancestral instincts guaranteeing it safe landing from the considerable height. 

As the beast scampered off into the distance, Cloud got up to both feet and stared helplessly as it became a tiny speck in the distance. “ _ Goddammit!” _ How could he have made such a rookie mistake? He’d sliced through countless monsters back in Midgar, and now a single Kalm Fang was getting the better of him. 

How was he going to handle Sephiroth?

The boisterous, impossibly loud shouting coming up behind him only served to further enrage him. “...’chu worry ‘bout it, I got this! Ain’t nobody gonna outrun me!” Barret Wallace roared as he rushed past a quietly fuming Cloud and unleashed the full fury of his arm cannon at what he thought was their prey. This was followed by more yelling, as Barret couldn’t help but let out a battle cry any time he used the diabolical device, concerns of ammo or aim seemingly unfounded. 

  
The patter of four paws through the cracked, dusty ground could barely be heard under the obnoxious gunfire. Even still, Red XIII didn’t even bother to raise his voice as he glowered at the massive man, his one good eye containing little but disgust. “It would seem rumors of your accuracy were greatly exaggerated” Already assured of their failure, the feline creature resumed a peaceful stance on its haunches, flaming tail clattering into the dirt.

Somehow, Barret heard this jab. “What’d you say, Red!?” he roared as he stopped shooting, the gun in his arm hissing and making odd noises, “The hell you gonna do, huh? Give it the stink eye from here!?”

“It’s not my eye that stinks...”

“You son of a -”

_ “ _ That’s enough, guys!” The husky, soft, but somewhat exasperated voice of Tifa Lockhart joined the fracas on the plateau, the tittering pink form of Aerith Gainsborough following behind her. “Cloud, are you alright?” Her scarlet eyes looked at him with genuine concern.

Almost like the words activated him from some deep slumber, Cloud suddenly sighed, his almost platinum blonde, spiky hair twitching in the wind. “Why’re you asking? Not like it did anything.” He pretended not to notice Tifa wince at the sting of his churlish remark. 

Aerith wasn’t going to stand for that. “She’s just looking out for you, y’know!” she huffed, putting her hands on her hips, “No need to be -”

“ _ I’m. Fine.” _ Cloud hissed through nearly clenched teeth, the  _ -click- _ of his Buster Sword reattaching to the magnet echoing through the still air. “Let’s just go.” He punctuated his short statement by quickly walking back down the path to the base of the hill.

“No matter what, he’s still the king of poutin’,” Barret muttered, “He’s the one who went and screwed up anyhow. I was plannin’ on eating that thing, y’know! Don’t s’pose you some kinda herbivore or somethin’?” Barret asked Red sarcastically, to which the cat responded by growling and following Cloud’s example back towards the hill. Barret, emboldened by the lack of response and unwilling to back down from a challenge, kept yammering back at him the whole way.

The two girls sighed as they kept pace with everyone else. “Boys will be boys,” Aerith said, running a hand through her immaculately braided brunette hair, “even across species.”

* * *

Aerith never liked the blue sky. It was big, unending, and looked like it could swallow all of existence whenever it wanted. 

Now she  _ hated _ it.

The afternoon sun was absolutely unbearable; with no trees or foliage of any sort, shade was in short supply. Her hair was still in its braid but sweaty strands had started to come loose and hang in her face. Luckily her pink dress was breezy and light, and she had removed her bright red mini-jacket and shamelessly placed it over her head, which brought  _ some  _ relief. Although now her milky white shoulders were exposed thanks to the thin straps of her dress, and she burned easily…

Ahead, her companions weren’t faring much better. Barret was sputtering and grunting, his inability to keep his thoughts in his head somehow translating into making sure everyone around him knew how hot he was. Tifa was in the lightest outfit, but Aerith cringed at the thought of her poor belly and thighs and arms all getting hit by the sun’s unrepentant rays. If it bugged her all that much she didn’t seem to show it, neither did Red, who simply trotted along without a care in the world. Briefly, Aerith wondered if his lit tail could somehow burn brighter with more heat.

A bit farther than all of them was Cloud, who had seemingly not stopped walking since the failed ambush at the plateau. Clearly he was in a bad mood but Aerith wished he would slow down  _ a little _ ; the hours long trek was beginning to wear her out. The gurgle of her stomach was also reminding her just how long it had been since she last ate. As a captive of the Shinra Electric Power Company she had nevertheless been fed well, but that was...how long ago now? It was hard to keep straight - between their daring escape, the Whisper Harbinger, Sephiroth, and everything else, Aerith felt she’d aged at least ten years.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of heavy wheezing, as Barret had now slowed down to her pace. She felt sorry for him - he was so big, and the gun in his arm so heavy, that this amount of walking must have been agony as well. “I think...I think you got the right idea, lil’ lady” he gasped, using a massive hand to wipe his dried and cracked lips.

She laughed, which only reminded her how parched her throat was. “Right? What else are accessories for? You ought to give it a shot, Barret, it may change your life!” She commented, pointing to the olive green jacket he had on.

“Heh, think I’m good. But I think we oughta take a break, I ain’t seen hide or hair of that damn Fang. SOLDIER boy is gettin’ on my last nerves anyways.” Barret’s eyes were hidden by his sunglasses but Aerith could tell he was staring daggers at the back of Cloud’s spiky head. She decided he was right, if only to de-escalate before another fight broke out.

“Hey! Cloud!” she announced, which at least got Tifa and Red’s attention, “Barret needs a break, let’s rest for just a minute, okay?” She ignored the angry muttering from a sheepish Barret as the four of them stopped to see if Cloud would respond. He kept walking for a little bit before stopping and looking over his shoulder and seeing everyone standing around.

“I agree with Barret. Perhaps we can get a better sense of direction while we rest,” Red added, licking at his chops. 

Cloud still didn’t answer, but merely surveyed the area around them. While there was the mountains to the south, Kalm was not a mountain town and could only have been east of where they were. How far that was or what their plan beyond that, though, remained a mystery. The initial high of everyone ready to venture into an unknown destiny had worn off once they all hit the road and realized the world was vast and dangerous, with little to eat or drink along the way. Add to that the natural dangers of the desert; the Kalm Fang family that had surprised them that morning was still on the loose. Aerith had assumed Cloud was hunting them down, but it had been hours since they’d seen any sign of the pride.

“If you all want to rest, go right ahead,” Cloud called, turning back around, “Doesn’t mean that Fang is gonna take a rest.”

Aerith and Barret groaned while Red gave a low-throated growl. What a brat! It was Tifa, however, who gasped the loudest.

“C-Cloud, wait!” she cried, reaching out into the air, as if she could stop him, “Do you even know where you’re going? We haven’t seen that thing for a while, maybe we should figure something else out…”

Cloud didn’t even stop to think about it. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

“But...how are you going to find us if you keep going?”

“I said I got it, Tifa. Really.”

Tifa went to voice her objections but her voice cut off, whether due to exhaustion or her own hurt feelings, Aerith couldn’t tell. They hadn’t run into another monster along the way, which was surprising, but even so, she worried about Cloud, too. She had seen him fight dozens of times now, she knew he could take care of himself, but she was still frustrated that he was so stubborn. 

More than anything, Aerith could feel the group bursting at the seams with tension. A lot had gone down in the past day, and they had barely had the time to process it all before settling off into the wastelands. A rest and a good chat could probably relieve a lot of it, but Cloud seemed to want to keep going, no matter what. 

Before she could get too upset, Barret suddenly yelled from her side, spitting mad. “ _ Fine! _ While yer out there fillin’ yer diaper, we’ll get shit done! Punk ass…’Member when I said he was a good guy deep down? Maybe I was wrong,” he fumed, kicking at the dirt and spitting, however weakly, to the side. 

Tifa scolded him. “Hey, don’t say things like that! Cloud’s just…”

“Cloud. Jus’ Cloud, right? Just who he is, I guess,” Barret sputtered sarcastically, walking over to a nearby rock and popping a squat, exhaling loudly as he did. “Well while he’s being ‘jus’ Cloud,’ I’m gonna sit here a minute and see if I can’t get a sense of where we’re at. Any ideas, Red?”

“Well, if the scent of the Fang are anything to go by, we should be…”

As the two plotted further, Aerith watched silently once again. She had meant what she said when they were on the highway staring down Destiny’s Crossroads: she truly believed that these four people were capable of doing the impossible with her, together. But at the same time, something in her heart, like a voice calling out from far away, had warned her about this; even when everything seemed to be going right, Destiny had a funny way of throwing a wrench into your plans. In a group full of fragile hearts, Cloud’s may have been the most vulnerable, and Aerith was positive that would continue to hinder him along this journey. But they all  _ had _ to stick together, no matter what; only with their combined power did they have a chance to succeed at setting everything right. 

A brisk wind seemed to tug at the hem of her dress, which caused her to turn from Barret and Red to what seemed like an empty patch of land. As she lifted the jacket to get a better look, she gasped in surprise: there was a small yellow flower growing, somehow, amidst the dead brush of the wasteland. 

They were on the right path, no doubt. They just needed a little push.

* * *

Cloud had gotten so far that he was unable to hear the chatter of his companions any longer. Good, he thought. He wasn’t much for talking, and everyone was starting to get on his last nerve.

As he continued to skulk around the canyon, keeping a careful eye out for footprints and waste to help track his quarry, Cloud did his best to empty his mind, focusing only on the task at hand. Managing emotions had always been stressful, and since he’d arrived in Midgar he’d been put through the ringer. It was so much... _ Noise. _ Above all else, Cloud was a simple guy - he was good at what he did, maybe the best, and that was that. Yet here he found himself now on a mission to not only settle an old score, but save the entire planet as well.

He hadn’t signed up for that.

Still, he thought, he had only himself to blame. As a SOLDIER, he was extremely well-served to carry out the duties demanded of him, and he had a pretty big one still left to fulfill. Sephiroth was, if nothing else, a coward who abandoned his comrades in SOLDIER to hurt or kill many innocent people. Cloud couldn’t let him live, couldn’t let him get away with everything he had done. To the planet. To his mom. To Tifa.

Tifa _ … _

Before he could get too distracted, his glowing eyes widened at the sight of a rather large spot of drying blood in the dirt. He knelt down and carefully inspected the bronzed goop, noting that it spun off into a trail through some rock paths and around a nearby cliff. Had that idiot Barret actually nicked the thing with his moronic bullet spray? Or was Cloud fast enough to catch it with his improvised slice? Either way, the fact that he even had to wonder was an awful embarrassment. How could a mercenary, a former SOLDIER no less, not even get the better of one lousy cat? 

_ Seven seconds… _

Not again. Cloud’s vision blurred as a thunderbolt of pain surged through his skull and seemed to infect every part of him. In particular, his left arm burned like it’d been stabbed, and it began to go numb as he clutched it. The infuriating velvet voice of Sephiroth rang through his entire head.

_ Seven seconds ‘til the end...Time enough for you...perhaps… _

_ I’m waiting, Cloud… _

No! Cloud let out a whimper of pain, his heart hammering like an express train as the fits of pain finally ceased. He couldn’t tell if the sweat was from the blistering sun or what just happened, but he wiped his face down all the same while he tried to catch his breath. Why was he like this? He hated it, the powerlessness, never knowing when these strange visions and voices would break him utterly, becoming a sniveling mess. Between this and the failed rout of the Kalm Fang, Cloud felt the familiar sense of dread, that somehow every action he took was the wrong one.

He had to be strong. He  _ had  _ to _.  _ “C’mon. You got this,” he whispered to his own psyche, hoping it might hear him. For the moment, it would appear it got the message.

Looking back behind him, across the sandy vista, Cloud could no longer see his motley crew through the oily canvas of the humid wasteland. Maybe that was for the best - after the failed attempt during the morning, he didn’t want any chance for his plan to go awry. The Fang would be dead by his sword soon, if it hadn’t already bled out, and no one would have to worry anymore. Aerith and the others were counting on him to help beat Sephiroth, and he was going to show them that they hadn’t made the wrong choice. He couldn’t fail again. 

Not after Nibelheim. 

Not after Sector 7. 

Never again.

Renewed and determined, he took a running start toward the cliff and leapt gracefully into the air, once again taking advantage of the abilities given to him by the mako flowing in his veins. He landed equally as smoothly on the ridge on top of the ledge, several meters above the ground. With this vantage point, he could survey a good portion of the wasteland and narrow down his path. He walked a little ways forward and looked out over the valley, finding exactly what he was looking for in the center of a clearing that could be reached by following the ridgeline of the cliff he was on. 

Sure enough, the giant cat had been wounded, bleeding clearly from its side as it lay amidst decaying brown and black brush. It would have been poetic if Cloud cared about that kind of thing.

This time there would be no hesitation. Cloud’s sword vibrated as it was removed from its magnetic clamp, the sun gleaming off its impossibly sharp edge. He increased his speed, nearly jogging as he scaled down the ridgeline and right into the cat’s eyesight. With a closer look Cloud could see the beast’s belly slowly rising up and down; good, he thought. He had learned not to take enjoyment in his line of work, but he was going to take his time in dealing with this thing that had embarrassed him so. 

Once again the Buster Sword was lifted up above his head, Cloud’s back to the sun so no residual glare would get in his way. His shadow reflected ominously on his fallen prey, who gave the mercenary no mind. Cloud’s surging muscles urged his brain to obey and bring the titanic blade down across the Fang’s neck, but he took just a moment to glance at what would be the cat’s final resting place. For a stretch of land in a vast desert, there was a strange sense of order to what should have been chaos: strange piles of bones lay around, and the scattered rocks had deep scratches in them that weren’t natural. In that same instant his nose scrunched up at the odd smell around him, pungent and foul. Did some sort of sewer runoff come here from some underground pipe? It was almost as if…

It was a credit only to luck that he was able to dodge the deadly pounce of another Fang behind him, its jaws foaming as it relished in the missed opportunity of tearing out Cloud’s throat. Before he could even blink in surprise a hot, searing pain erupted from his side, causing his body to instinctively jump out of harm’s way with his back to the ridgeline. Sure enough, through blurry and teary eyes, he could make out four other Kalm Fangs now circling their injured kin. It had somehow never even crossed his mind that the Fang he was tracking would have been smart enough to lead him back to its territory, the whole pack following to both defend their terf and seek revenge for that morning.

And this time, he had no pack of his own to help him fight them off.

The navy blue of Cloud’s SOLDIER fatigues were quickly getting stained maroon by the blood seeping out of his wound. Cloud winced as he looked at the empty sockets on his sword and the iron bangle on his wrist, noting only a glowing green lightning materia; he had no items on him either. Adrenaline was beginning to numb the pain, but he didn’t know for how long, nor how battle tested his foes were. And what of his comrades? The cliff would undoubtedly be difficult to scale for them, and even if he did cry out, would they even hear him? He couldn’t remember quite how long he had been pursuing the Fang, but he knew they were well out of his sightline.

_ I’m with SOLDIER, so… _

Gloved hands squeezed the life out of the Buster Sword’s hilt, raising the blade up to his eyes and locking tight in a defensive hold. He did his best to get his breathing under control and block out the white-hot pain, focusing only on the four snarling beasts in front of him. He couldn’t rely on anyone else, but he’d known that his whole life. 

_...fighting’s all I do. _

Joining SOLDIER _ ,  _ helping Avalanche, fighting Sephiroth, it all had a common link - him failing when it mattered. But he told himself that none of that mattered if he could succeed here. He’d been in worse situations than this, surely; five cats should have been nothing. Now was the time, he felt, to prove that Aerith and Red’s trust wasn’t misplaced, that Barret was wrong for ever doubting him, that he could keep his promise to Tifa.

_ It’s just like...when I failed you… _

Never again.

He didn’t hesitate, launching like a rocket towards the one farthest to his left, his weaker side. It dodged the slash, but Cloud had expected that; using his own momentum after the whiffed slice, he spun around and slashed this time from his right, catching the beast right above the eye and drawing blood. Its family wasn’t going to like that, a move Cloud predicted correctly again as a rolling dodge backwards was able to avoid the snarling slash of the next closest Fang.

Already he sensed a problem: his positioning. With his back to the ridgeline, he could only move back so much before he would have to find awkward footing on the sloped hill. There was also the matter of the Buster Sword and his one piece of materia; while both were extremely powerful, they also required some exertion on Cloud’s part. Those grains of time were something he was hard pressed to -

_ “Urk!” _

The sound of jagged teeth colliding with forged steel rang out throughout the clearing. Cloud was  _ barely _ able to lift his weapon up to intercept the third Fang before it latched onto his throat. Unfortunately this left him wide open, and the pride capitalized by pushing forward and attacking his legs. Cloud’s teeth clenched so hard he feared they might shatter as the cats ripped and tore at his calves and knees before he was finally able to shove off his immediate attacker and start frantically punching at the eyes of the things with a free hand to bat them off. Whatever might happen, he knew he couldn’t go down - they would swarm him then and he’d have no chance of fighting back. With all his might he swung the Buster Sword in a huge radius, which succeeded at clipping bits off of the three surrounding him. Wet, sticky blood dripped across the tan sand and grey rocks as the Fangs backed off to lick at their wounds.

_ Calm down _ , he told himself, somehow fighting the urge to look down and assess the damage to his legs. With his chest heaving, Cloud lifted his sword up again and assessed his position, realizing that he had opened up a hole in their ranks. Time to act.

He rushed forward, ignoring the shooting pain in his lower body and crossing over so his back was to the large open area of the clearing. He was quickly pursued, but now there was some room to play. Cloud ducked the first Fang, letting it sail cleanly over his head, parried the next and smacked it hard in the base of its neck with the flat edge of his sword, then met the next one head on, wrapping an arm around its exploding jaws and hurling it into the others like they were bowling pins. That left just the one standing.

Cloud relied on his ears to gauge how much time he had before the thing pounced, and quickly began concentrating on the green ball in his bangle. The earthy light of the planet surrounded him as the familiar rush of energy trickled all the way up his spine, and at the very last second he turned and could see the whites of the Fang’s eyes as it was struck down hard by a bolt of lightning out of the clear blue sky. Quadrupeds tended to hate fire the most, but the lightning did more than its fair share of damage, leaving the hulking canine convulsing and whimpering for mercy. 

While this bought him some time, the other Fangs would have no doubt recovered by now. Cloud once again turned to face them, his sword at the ready to fend them off once more, but he found the clearing empty. What was this? The sounds of galloping feet tore his concentration away, and the missing Fang suddenly appeared, appearing to run in a circle around him. This had to be a trap, he thought, digging his toes into the sole of his boots and standing firm. He carefully watched as the three dogs made a second revolution, seemingly in no hurry to attack him, when the gambit suddenly became clear.

If only he had reacted in time.

_ “Gyarrgh!” _ Cloud roared in agony as he felt razor sharp teeth sink deep into the flesh around his ankles and heel. The leather of the boots gave some protection, but they were hardly bite proof as he felt blood pour out of the gaping wound. As he suspected, the fifth Fang, the one that had been lying in state when he arrived, had recovered enough to launch one final attack. It was likely that the thing did not care one whit if it lived or died, so long as his clan avenged him. As the rest of the Fangs stopped running and approached carefully, it seemed like it might get its wish.

Cloud felt like he was caught in a hurricane, death approaching on him from all sides and tearing at him as he did his best to keep his head down and power through a vicious assault from all four Fangs, including the one still smouldering from its lightning strike. Despite their ravenous energy, these animals clearly had experience hunting together, as the second Cloud deflected or sliced at the advance of one, another was right there to lash out at his blind side. Scratches on his wrist, calf, shoulder, and neck soon appeared, although none were quite as severe as the injuries to his side and heel. A few of the Fangs had taken even more slices from his sword, but in his weakened state he wasn’t landing killing blows, which was proving to be costly.

He had done his best to keep a wide space between them, but the Fangs wisely had circled up and blocked out any meaningful path forward. His only escape route was the steep hill at his back, which he had no chance of scaling up without the vicious creatures gnawing off one of his limbs. Worse yet, the blood he’d lost was starting to affect him - he felt dizzy and off-balance, the Fangs becoming nothing more than hazy, blurry violet lumps. Keeping his sword up was getting more difficult as the adrenaline began to wear off and his energy left him, the reality of nearly a full day without any form of sustenance hitting as hard as the blood loss. 

Was this it? All that - Avalanche, falling into Aerith’s church, Wall Market, The Turks, Sector 7, Shinra, and Sephiroth - just to die alone in the middle of a godforsaken desert? To a pack of snarling dogs? If it wasn’t the flowing cuts and lack of blood affecting Cloud’s fighting ability, it was most certainly his wounded spirit, which was losing its will. 

_ You'd better be worth the money, merc. Every last gil. _

Barret should have asked for his money back while he had the chance. One of the blurs made a move, and Cloud had to again lift his sword and hold it back, the Fang’s bite strength clearly exceeding whatever little he had left. The thing’s hot saliva was splattering down the sword and onto Cloud, who would have reacted in disgust if he didn’t have to focus all he had left on keeping the thing at bay.

In a flash, he was back in Nibelheim, rubbing his nose while older kids spit and kicked at him. SOLDIER? Not in a million years. That required guts, and he didn’t even have any, not even to  _ talk  _ to the one person he wanted to, more than anyone else. No wonder all the kids thought he was a little weakling.

_ You are too weak to save anyone. Not even yourself. _

Sephiroth’s words played over and over again as he barely landed a slap on the muzzle of the dog in front of him, only for two more to land another set of swipes and bites, forcing him on defense again. Sephiroth had warned him, and he didn’t listen. How many more times were his comrades going to have to suffer his incompetence? 

_ What if you get lost, huh? You'd be too embarrassed to admit it, and so you'd just keep on going. _

Aerith. She had him pegged from the moment she met him. His pride, stupid pride, simply couldn’t let those dogs believe they got the better of him, and that had lead him straight into a trap, with no idea where he was. Her kindness was going to be repaid with failure and broken promises. Not much of a bodyguard either, he thought.

In shifting his feet, Cloud staggered and lost his balance, just barely managing to swing his sword and fend off the Fangs from ripping him apart as he struggled to up to one knee. Now they were advancing on him, morphing into a single entity, a purple cloud of death ready to swallow him whole. He raised his sword up to his eyes, for what he truly felt was the final time, and awaited what was coming.

_ You gotta be better than this...if you're gonna play the hero! _

Tifa was right. She was always right. Some hero he turned out to be. All that strength, all that training, and he was still the angry runt who couldn’t keep his mouth shut or think straight. He deserved this.

Before the Fangs could finish the job, a fuzzy orange ball suddenly shattered the purple mass. Was this a dream? Another blurry figure, this one white and grey, seized one of the Fangs by its jaw and shoved it back, stepping in front of Cloud in a composed stance. What sounded like the motor of a car getting sawed up by a chainsaw followed, scattering the rest of the Fangs into a panic. Somehow, he felt he could set his sword down, if only for a moment. It had gotten  _ so _ heavy, and his body felt  _ so  _ light.

As Cloud turned to his left, another figure appeared glowing white and red, a green mist coming from its hand. He reached out to it, briefly wondering if it was an angel, before his world turned black and he felt the ground rise up to meet him.

* * *

Tifa bit her lip as she watched Cloud sit stiffly, facing away from the rest of them. It was hard for her to calm down, as she couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if Red hadn’t noticed a lone blood spot in the wastelands and lead the rest of the party to the clearing where Cloud was being decimated by the same pride of Kalm Fangs he had been hunting.

Again, their strength as a team fended off the monsters, without mercy this time. Once the Fangs were dead, Aerith quickly worked on keeping Cloud alive while the others spent the rest of the day inspecting the clearing for any harmful creatures before making a makeshift campground to help Cloud rest. Aerith’s healing work was top notch, and Cloud had miraculously avoided any organ or muscle damage. Once she had stopped the bleeding with some curative materia the only evidence left that anything had happened to Cloud was the dark red stains on his trousers, boots, and rips in his top. He had woken up a few hours later, however, and said nothing before marching off to the edge of the nearby cliff to stare at the sunset. 

“Still out here, huh?”

It was Aerith, her voice as gentle and sweet as ever. Tifa’s jealousy soared once again. “S-sorry, I’ll get back to dinner, I just - ”

“Don’t worry about it! I’m not exactly a great cook anyhow...or so Barret says.” Aerith took a second to let out a sigh as she crossed her arms. “I’d like to see  _ him _ come up with a five star meal that only had plants and berries!”

Tifa nodded glumly, appreciating Aerith’s breezy tone but unable to shake her worry. “Thank you so much, Aerith. N-not just for dinner but...without you, I don’t know if we could have fixed him...”

The older girl’s face finally tightened up in concern. “Y-yeah, no kidding…” she said seriously, her voice matching her frown. “Even  _ I  _ could have told him that going out to fight a whole pack of monsters was a bad idea. I guess I didn’t realize he was  _ that _ prideful.”

While it may have surprised Aerith, Tifa wasn’t so shocked. “Even when we were kids, Cloud was always such a…”

“Brat?” Aerith chimed in, again trying to lighten the mood. It succeeded this time, causing Tifa to chuckle hoarsely.

“I-I guess, yeah. More like, he had a chip on his shoulder. But even then, SOLDIER changed him,” she said bitterly, clutching a hand to her heart, “The Cloud I knew wouldn’t throw his life away for some stupid fight. But...I don’t know, maybe he would now...”

The sun had long passed the horizon, and in the dark it was difficult to see Cloud except for the shine of the Buster Sword on his back. As Tifa contemplated what was going on in his mind, Aerith moved in to her side.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out for sure. Ask!” she urged, holding out her hand like she was presenting something.

This caught Tifa off guard. “H-huh!? But, Aerith, I don’t think he’s in the mood to -”

“Aw, c’mon! His bark is worse than his bite. Besides,” Aerith countered, squeezing Tifa’s glove in reassurance, “I’m sure it will seem more special if it comes from his old friend.”

She wanted to voice her objections, but Tifa found it difficult to get a word in edgewise. It was obvious why Cloud had been so enchanted by Aerith - her eyes, green like the Lifestream itself, seemed too impossibly bright to ignore, a warmth in her smile and touch that seemed like it could move mountains, let alone a person. 

“Also...We  _ need _ him,” Aerith warned, her voice getting lower and more serious. “Cloud’s going to play an important part in beating Sephiroth, I can feel it. But whatever history they have, it’s seriously twisting his mind. Everyone has their breaking point, even a SOLDIER, and it’s up to the people around him to lighten that load.”

With an Aerith-rush of confidence, Tifa nodded, agreeing with every word she said. “Y-you’re right. I’ll...I’ll see what I can do.” Tifa nudged her head in Cloud’s direction, which Aerith gave a nod of acknowledgement too as she walked back to tend to the materia-created fire that Red and Barret were amiably chatting around. 

Tifa took a deep breath in from her toned tummy. Now or never. She slowly walked over to Cloud, mulling over several opening lines in her head before picking the simplest option.

“Heya…”

No response or even movement from Cloud. Impossible to tell if that was a good or bad sign. She bent over to get a look at his face, hands locked tight together behind her back. “Are you...feeling okay, Cloud?”

A grunt this time. “Yeah, I’m fine.” The irony of him saying this while his clothes were torn and coated with his own blood wasn’t lost on Tifa.

“If you say so,” Tifa answered, joining him on the ground and dangling her legs off the cliff. “Still...You should probably take it easy for a little bit. We don’t know what -”

“I don’t need to ‘take it easy’ on anything,” Cloud interrupted, his voice sharp, “I’ve been in worse shape than this and still managed.”

“Y-yeah, I guess that’s true…” Tifa hated that she felt the need to agree with him even when she didn’t, but she couldn’t help it. “But don’t you think - “

“Look, Tifa,” Cloud said as he looked over at her, his voice softer than his earlier rebuttal, “I get it. But the more time you spend worrying about me, the less time you’re spending thinking about Sephiroth. Don’t lose sight of the mission.”

Tifa blinked in surprise. ‘The mission’? Was this all it was to him, just another SOLDIER job? Her gloves scraped at the rocks as she gripped the cliff’s edge hard. “Cloud…” It was against all her instincts, but she had to say  _ something _ . Sighing, Tifa began to speak from her heart and did her best to not look him in the eye, Aerith’s speech from earlier still giving her confidence. “Don’t talk to me like I’m some...war buddy of yours. We’re  _ friends _ , right?”

Cloud let out a surprised noise, which emboldened Tifa to continue. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? Back at your room. So  _ as  _ your friend, I...I’m worried about you.”

“Tifa -”

“Let me finish! What were you thinking, going out by yourself like that? You’re not in SOLDIER anymore, you don’t  _ need _ to be the toughest guy around! You could have gotten yourself killed, and for what? To prove you’re better than all of us?”

Even from the corner of her eye, Tifa could see Cloud flinch. She struck a nerve. “That has  _ nothing _ to do with -”

“ _ Of course _ it does!” Tifa said a little louder than she intended, “You talk all day long about SOLDIER this, SOLDIER that, Cloud! I just...I wish you would tell us  _ why _ you won’t let us in on what’s going on. If you’re going through something, it’s okay, we -”

“No it isn’t!” He snapped, making Tifa jump a bit. She fearfully looked up to see his sickly green eyes, still visible during the rising moon, contorted once again into the glare that had scared her so much back in Sector 7. “Aerith said it herself: we’re the only ones that can stop him.  _ I’m _ the only one that can stop him! Any second I spend wasting time and doubting what I can do, he wins! I can’t let him win again, I can’t…” He broke off, quietly fuming into the night sky.

Tifa swallowed the lump in her throat. It was so obvious that Cloud was hurting way beyond the surface wounds from the Fangs, but he kept closing himself off. “C-Cloud,  _ please _ ,” she begged with a shaky voice, “Where’s all this coming from? You don’t need to prove yourself to me, or anyone! You helped  _ so  _ many people in Midgar -”

“Like Jessie?” He spat coldly. Tifa gasped, not ready for that kind of gut punch. “Like Biggs? What about Barret? Sephiroth cut him down like it was nothing, and I didn’t do anything about it! So save it.”

Tears were starting to prick Tifa’s eyes. How could he blame himself for all of that? “Cloud...it’s not your fault.  _ Any _ of that! I...I know how you feel…” Tifa sniffled, drudging up some painful memories of her own. “After Nibelheim and Sector 7, I always told myself that if only I was stronger, if I hadn't messed up in some way, maybe I could have saved everyone. Maybe Jesse and Biggs...Maybe Dad…” She would have finished the thought if it didn’t threaten to push her into hysterics.

“Tifa, I…” Cloud’s face remained placid, but his eyes got a little softer, more like the earnest, if a little strange kid that Tifa remembered from her childhood. “I want...To honor what I promised you.” he said softly, clenching his gauntlet, “But I’m no hero, just a merc. I can’t save everyone.”

It astounded Tifa again that somehow, even after his life as a SOLDIER, he remembered the promise she made him give back in Nibelheim. Still, he was selling himself short. “Maybe not...but that’s not the  _ only _ thing a hero does,” she answered, brushing away an errant tear. “A hero fights even when the odds are stacked up against him. A hero helps people who are in need. A hero tells the truth, even when it hurts. If nothing else...you’re  _ my _ hero, Cloud.”

It was tough to see in the dark, but Tifa noticed Cloud’s semi-permanent frown twist a bit into a tiny smile. Rare as it was, she felt her heart skip a beat, knowing this wasn’t a part of himself he’d show to just anybody. Suddenly embarrassed, she hid her face with her long black hair, hoping her flushed and teary cheeks weren’t blazingly obvious.

“Alright, I’ll hold you to that.” She followed his eyes to the half-crescent moon making its slow descent to the top of the sky. Tifa had lived in the slums of Midgar for so long that she couldn’t remember the last time she saw a moon that wasn’t full.

After about a minute, Cloud shuffled a bit, as if he was sitting on something uncomfortable. “Uh, Tifa?”

“Hmm?”

“...It’s just that I’m...glad that we met up again. That I met all you guys, even Barret. We make a really good team...I think so, anyways...”

Leave it to Cloud to find the perfect moment to express the most simple of feelings, Tifa thought. Her blush blossomed further as she pulled herself a bit closer to Cloud, putting her hand on his bare shoulder.

“Right back atcha!”


End file.
